A BART train passes through through BART's new 44th station set to open Feb. 18 in Dublin, Calif., on Friday, February 11, 2011. Construction crews were putting the finishing touches on the station.

Photo: Thomas Levinson, The Chronicle

A BART train passes through through BART's new 44th station set to...

Image 2 of 3

Rory Shortred (far right), Sylvia Hartanto (bottom center), and Carlyle Potts, work in a BART fare gate during a media tour through BART's new 44th station set to open Feb. 18 in Dublin, Calif., on Friday, February 11, 2011.

Photo: Thomas Levinson, The Chronicle

Rory Shortred (far right), Sylvia Hartanto (bottom center), and...

Image 3 of 3

Construction crews put the finishing touches on the Dublin BART station during a media tour through BART's new 44th station set to open Feb. 18 in Dublin, Calif., on Friday, February 11, 2011.

Alert BART riders may have noticed something unusual about the new system maps recently posted on trains and in stations - a phantom station, hovering somewhere around the interchange of Interstates 580 and 680, where trains don't stop.

That will change at 6:03 a.m. Saturday when the first train departs the West Dublin/Pleasanton Station. BART will celebrate the arrival of its 44th station - and the first station to be built in the middle of an existing line - today at 10 a.m. A host of politicians, bureaucrats and builders will give speeches, and curious commuters will be able to explore the station before train service starts.

The new station, which cost $106 million and took more than four years to build because of a dispute over the strength of a pedestrian bridge across I-580, straddles the freeway. Tracks and the boarding platform stand in the freeway median with parking garages on either side - in Dublin and Pleasanton. It sits just west of the Interstate 580-680 interchange in the Tri-Valley area, where it will serve commuters from eastern Alameda County and the San Ramon portion of Contra Costa County.

"This station is a vital improvement for the region," said BART Director John McPartland, who represents the area.

The West Dublin/Pleasanton Station will feature nearly 1,200 parking spaces - 721 in Dublin and 468 in Pleasanton - relieving pressure on the end-of-the line Dublin/Pleasanton Station, where spaces typically fill by 7:30 a.m. Parking will cost $1 a day for unreserved spaces, $4 for reserved parking and $63 for a monthly pass. As of Thursday, monthly permits were still available in either garage.

BART expects about 4,300 riders to use the station on an average weekday. Those headed to downtown San Francisco will pay $5.40 each way while those bound for Berkeley will pay $4.15. A trip to San Francisco International Airport will cost $10.40 each way.

The West Dublin/Pleasanton station is a cooperative effort with developer Jones Lang LaSalle, which contributed about $20 million toward construction in exchange for the right to build a transit-oriented development on the site. However, that project has been stalled by the recession.

The station, adjacent to Stoneridge mall, was planned as part of the Dublin/Pleasanton extension, which opened in 1997. But without the money to build three stations, BART officials chose to extend the line to the current terminus then add the West Dublin/Pleasanton Station when money became available. That created the longest uninterrupted stretch of track in the system - 10 miles. With the new station, that's shortened to 8.5 miles.

Construction of the station cost more and took longer than anticipated because of a dispute over a pair of prefabricated walkways that delayed the project by nearly two years and increased the cost by about $20 million.